Ghost-Haunted Land by Declan Long

Void was delighted to welcome Declan Long to launch his book ‘Ghost-Haunted Land: Contemporary art and post-Troubles Northern Ireland’ at the gallery on Friday 2nd March from 6:30pm where he was in conversation with Willie Doherty.

Brief Overview

Since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 – the formal end-point of the thirty-year modern ‘Troubles’ – contemporary visual artists have offered diverse responses to post-conflict circumstances in Northern Ireland. In Ghost-Haunted Land – the first book-length examination of post-Troubles contemporary art – Declan Long highlights artists who have reflected on the ongoing anxieties of aftermath.

This wide-ranging study addresses developments in video, photography, painting, sculpture, performance and more, offering detailed analyses of key works by artists based in Ireland and beyond – including 2014 Turner Prize winner Duncan Campbell and internationally acclaimed filmmaker and photographer Willie Doherty. ‘Post-Troubles’ contemporary art is discussed in the context of both local transformations and global operations – and many of the main points of reference in the book come from broader debates about the place and purpose of contemporary art in today’s world.

Reviews

Here also is the lead comment from the Irish Times review:

“‘Ghost-Haunted Land is a foundational work of art criticism that will stand alongside Colin Graham’s study of photography and the North as a first point of reference for anyone interested in the Troubles and their cultural legacies.”

– Nicholas Allen, IrishTimes, December 2017

Declan Long Biography

Declan Long is Programme Director of the MA Art in the Contemporary World at the National College of Art & Design, Dublin. He is a regular contributor to Artforum and Frieze magazines. He is a board member of both the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin and the EVA International biennial of contemporary art. In 2013 he served as a member of the Turner Prize judging panel.

Willie Doherty Biography

Willie Doherty is the Professor of Video Art at the University of Ulster.

Since the early 1990s, Willie Doherty has had numerous international solo exhibitions, including the Stadtische Galerie in Lenbachhaus und Kunstbau, Munich and Hamburger Kunstverein, Hamburg; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas; The Speed Art Museum, Louisville, Kentucky; Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh; Laboratorio Arte Alameda, Mexico City; The Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin; The Renaissance Society, Chicago, Illinois.

His work has also been presented in prestigious international group exhibitions, including dOCUMENTA 13, Kassel, Germany, 2012; Manifesta 8, Murcia, Spain, 2010; 51st Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy, 2005; 8th Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey, 2003; 25th Sao Paulo Biennial, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 2002; and Carnegie International, Pittsburgh, PA,1999.